39% of Users Cancel Streaming, Putting Discovery UX in Focus

Streaming platforms are losing viewers faster than they can add content.

And the problem is access, not supply.

About 39% of users canceled subscriptions in the past six months because they could not quickly find something worth watching, according to Deloitte’s 2026 Digital Media Trends report.

And poor personalization frustrates up to 76% of consumers, McKinsey & Company found, directly affecting retention.

This data indicates discovery drives the business, not content alone.

Ziad Foty, founder of Washington-based, award-winning digital agency Design in DC, approaches this challenge through the lens of storytelling and behavior.

In an exclusive DesignRush interview, Foty shares how user experience design (UX) and content discovery directly drive engagement and retention.

Who Is Ziad Foty?

Ziad Foty is the CEO and co-founder of Design In DC, where he leads digital projects focused on usability and business impact. Outside of tech, he is an award-winning filmmaker whose work has screened at major festivals and on PBS. He also teaches film at universities including George Mason and Howard.

Editor's Note: This is a sponsored article created in partnership with Design in DC.

Streaming UX Has Become a Retention Strategy

Users don’t show up hoping to figure things out anymore.

The moment a platform opens, it should feel fast, intuitive, and able to surface what users want without effort.

Access is assumed. Effort is not tolerated.

“I’d say it has made people want more continuity across services and devices. When people are hopping between streaming services, they are looking for the least friction to access the media they want to watch,” Foty says.

“Platforms that feel slow, cluttered, and heavy will be abandoned. If relevance or ease of use drops, people go somewhere else.”

And that expectation exists because users are constantly comparing experiences.

Deloitte’s 2026 Digital Media Trends report states that 90% of U.S. households subscribe to at least one streaming service, which means every interaction is being compared to another platform.

When navigation drags or recommendations miss, users notice right away, and little frustrations pile up fast enough to make them cancel.

Foty says that’s why a smooth user experience is so important.

Fast load times, relevant recommendations from the first session, seamless experiences across devices, and, most importantly, browsing that should be easy and require as few user commands as possible.

“Currently, services have strengths and weaknesses in their UI/UX, but I think people would prefer a universal standard that provides the best possible experience,” Foty says.

“While competition has effectively turned UX into a retention engine rather than just an interface, the service with the best content and discovery engine, and the easiest access, will win.”

In 2025, more U.S. brands saw declines in customer experience than improvements for the second consecutive year, signaling a continued downward trend, according to Forrester’s 2025 Customer Experience Index.

A total of 25% of brands declined, compared to only 7% that improved, according to the same Forrester findings.

This shows how poor digital experiences can hurt engagement and conversion.

Adding more content doesn’t fix the problem. It often makes the experience harder to navigate.

When users are faced with too many options, their decisions are delayed, and they could abandon the session entirely.

That’s where structured discovery comes in.

According to Foty, a recommendation system should balance relevance with discovery.

Why? Too much repetition causes people to become bored. Too much variety creates confusion.

Effective systems guide users instead, helping them decide without overwhelming them.

Considering that 68% of streaming households now use ad-supported platforms, as Deloitte found, efficient discovery is imperative, as they could disengage before ads or subscriptions deliver value.

“This includes revealing content gradually rather than overwhelming users, using curated rows instead of massive grids, and making it easy to provide feedback,” Foty says.

PwC’s 2025 Global Entertainment & Media Outlook makes the same point, showing that ad revenue is set to grow fast as platforms use technology to deliver content and experiences that match what users actually want.

Content only drives engagement when it’s easy for users to find and navigate.

Reducing Choice Overload with Clear Pathways

And it’s a delicate balance between giving users variety while also guiding them.

“There’s a fine line between presenting yourself as the platform with the most content choices while not overloading the senses,” Foty says.

The issue creates two types of user behaviors:

1. Some want to explore deeply,
2. While others want immediate recommendations.

Which means platforms need to cater to both.

“One thing that can be done is to build a strong information architecture to encourage deep browsing for people who want to spelunk through the content catalog,” Foty recommends.

Contextual signals such as behavior, timing, and viewing patterns can also help narrow decisions.

Companies that lead with personalization have historically generated 40% more revenue from those efforts than their peers, Marketing LTB reports, tying structured discovery directly to financial performance.

Foty recommends designing platforms with clear pathways that help users make decisions and explore content.

“I think having clear guided pathways between decision-making and recommendations can be made, and such guided pathways, such as playlists, collections, or ‘watch journeys,’ need to be made clear.”

This approach organizes content while allowing exploration, guiding how users understand and interact with it.

This is where storytelling comes in, according to Foty.

Storytelling, or narrative framing, gives context to choices and helps users understand why something is relevant, encouraging them to explore further.

“I like it when there’s a narrative framing of content, and you can keep creating meaning in how items are grouped (‘Because you liked…’, ‘Award-winning dramas’),” Foty adds.

He adds that emotional engagement is shaped through how content is presented, including:

1. Copywriting
2. Previews
3. Imager
4. Elements that build anticipation and connection

It all forms part of the brand identity.

“Platforms like Netflix vs. Disney+ feel different because of narrative tone and positioning, after all. But even with their different looks, these platforms share many universal UX elements,” he adds.

These signals can guide attention without forcing decisions, and reduce effort while increasing perceived relevance on the user’s part.

One example of this is how social media can influence engagement. According to Deloitte, 32% of consumers find social media more engaging than traditional media.

The implication holds for brands outside streaming, too, as digital products should guide users through a clear narrative and not present options only.

What This Means for Brands and Agencies

It applies to content, too. If the content is weak, then it doesn’t even matter.

Strong UX can’t replace weak content, but weak UX can undermine strong content. The two need to work together.

“I think the difference comes down to habit formation and perceived value per session,” Foty says.

“Through UX, you can ensure you are a platform users return to by delivering relevant content immediately, minimizing the effort to start watching, continuously improving recommendations, and creating a sense of ‘there’s always something for me here.’”

This standard has been set across every type of digital product.

Users expect fast access, relevant recommendations, and clear direction without effort.

It changes how digital experiences are built, as just presenting products, features, or content isn’t enough anymore.

Now, the focus should be on guiding users to the right decision quickly via structured pathways, contextual signals, and clear entry points.

In terms of execution, UX should connect directly to business outcomes such as engagement, retention, and conversion.

And to do this, a stronger information architecture, smarter recommendation systems, and continuous testing to refine how users move through a product are needed.

Organizations that treat UX as a core business function are better positioned to compete.

That’s why partnering with a specialized UX agency helps align product design with user behavior and performance goals.

Foty’s perspective shows how UX influences behavior from the first click to long-term retention.

Platforms that reduce friction and guide decisions effectively can build repeat usage. Those that don’t lose attention quickly.

In sum, content still matters, but discovery determines whether it will be used.

Keeping this in mind, UX for content discovery should then be treated as a core business driver rather than as a secondary layer.